- tiramisu photo by Michelle
Tiramisu means “pick me up”…a little jolt of heavenly power. I love it. I have had it served to me a kazillion different ways. Elaborate towering structures to a simple dollop of sweetened mascarpone sitting beside an espresso soaked ladyfinger cookie. My favorite way to prepare tiramisu is “housewife” style. Simple, pure and sinful…OK maybe the sinful bit is not really housewifely…just a clean presentation of basic ingredients prepared with traditional methods.
TIRAMISU
serves 12
2 cups freshly brewed espresso
1 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoons Tia Maria
stir together in a shallow bowl until sugar dissolves then allow mixture to cool
6 large egg yolks
1/3 cup dry Marsala
1/2 cup sugar
beat the egg yolks , Marsala and sugar in a metal bowl set over a pot of simmering water using a handheld mixer until mixture has tripled in volume – 10 minutes
remove from the heat and allow mixture to cool
when mixture has cooled beat in 1 lb of room temperature mascarpone
1 1/2 cups well chilled whipping cream
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
beat cream in a large chilled mixing bowl until cream form stiff peaks…beat in vanilla
fold the mascarpone mixture into the whipped cream
36 savoiardi [Italian ladyfinger cookies]
in a 9×13 serving dish place a layer of savoiardi that have been dipped in the espresso mixture…make sure you soak both sides
trim the cookies where necessary to ensure entire surface is covered
spread half of the mascarpone mixture over soaked savoiardi
dip the remaining cookies and place on top of the mascarpone layer
spread remaining mascarpone mixture and cover the soaked cookie layer
CHILL AT LEAST 6 HOURS BEFORE SERVING
Instead of dusting the tiramisu with cocoa before serving, you can make dark chocolate shards by peeling a block of dark chocolate with a carrot peeler and then piling each serving with an over the top amount placed just before you deliver the “pick me up”! An Italian housewife would consider this wicked!
